Wake Up and Spell the Coffee

by Samantha Silver

  I was so glad I’d rescued Cleo from the ocean.

  Chapter 24

  “Hi, Irene,” I said with a smile to the woman who was next in line as Leanne went to make the previous customer’s coffee. I was really starting to get to know a few of the regulars here at the coffee shop. Irene was the owner of the one dairy farm in town. She ran it on her own, and made her own cheeses there. Kaillie had told me a few days earlier the macaroni and cheese at the small café on her farm was the best she had ever tasted, and I made a mental note to stop by as soon as I got a chance.

  “Hello, Eliza,” Irene said to me with a warm smile. “Busy killing off some more customers today?”

  “You know it,” I replied with a wry smile. I’d quickly learned that Irene had a very unique sense of humor.

  “Well, I’ll take a large coffee and muffin, light on cyanide.”

  “Coming right up,” I said. “Wait, did you say no cyanide, or extra cyanide?”

  Irene laughed, a throaty, genuine laugh. “I do like you. Not enough people are willing to laugh about their own impending arrest for murder. Anyway, light on the cyanide. Although, if my daughter comes back from school with another note from her teacher about bad behavior I might have to change my answer.”

  I laughed as I got the coffee cup and filled it for Irene. Honestly, I wasn’t entirely comfortable laughing about how everyone thought I was a murderer, but I also didn’t want to seem like a stick-in-the-mud, either.

  Irene winked at me as she was about to leave. “Don’t worry about Ron. He’s terrible at his job, and everyone knows it. You’re not going to be arrested, and if you are, I know of at least a few people who would happily storm the prison to let you out.”

  I laughed awkwardly as Irene left, then turned to Leanne. “Is she always so…”

  “Weird?” Leanne finished. “Yeah. That’s Irene. I think being around all those cows for her whole life has messed up her sense of humor a little. But the cheese she makes is absolutely primo. And for what it’s worth, she’s right about some things – for example, we would go out of our way to break you out of jail if you got arrested.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a laugh.

  “What was with you coming in soaking wet earlier? And what was in your arms?”

  I explained the whole situation to Leanne, who at the end of it was practically melting on the floor.

  “Oh my goodness! You have a kitty! And you saved her from drowning! Ahh, that’s the cutest story I’ve ever heard! I need to go meet her!”

  And before I knew what was happening, Leanne had rushed back into the kitchen to meet Cleo, leaving me alone at the counter hoping against all hope that no one would come in for the next minute or so wanting anything that needed the fancy espresso machine.

  Luckily, the next customer to walk through the door was Aunt Lucy. She was closely followed by three other women, two of whom I recognized from the other day at Otterly Delicious, and the other one who bore such a strong resemblance to Leanne that I knew she had to be her mom.

  “Hi, Aunt Lucy,” I said with a smile. “And hello to you other ladies. What can I do for you this morning?”

  “We heard about Ronald coming in this morning and giving you a little bit of trouble,” Aunt Lucy replied. “Wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help.”

  “It’s darned stupid,” Dorothy said with a nod. “I told my Joe he had better make sure that oaf doesn’t do anything to ruin that poor girl’s life. Can you imagine? A niece of Lucy’s accused of murder! All because Ronald Jones is a buffoon who couldn’t solve a real crime if his life depended on it.”

  The other women all nodded.

  “We were thinking we might make our way down to the police station and show off a certain photo,” Lucy said to me in a hushed whisper. “But I don’t have a copy of it.”

  “Oh, here, I’ll Airdrop it to you. Pass me your phone and I’ll do it.”

  “Please, I know how Airdrop works,” Aunt Lucy said, tapping away, and I had to give her credit. I had assumed based on her age that she had no idea how to use it, but sure enough, a moment later ‘Lucy’s iPhone’ popped up as a person I could send the photo to. I did so, and she winked at me. “Perfect. Time to go stir up some trouble. Let’s go, ladies! We have an idiotic police chief to go take care of.”

  “Come back and let me know how it goes,” I called after Lucy as she and the Floozies left the coffee shop.

  “Will do!” my aunt called back with a wave over her shoulder. To be honest, I was kind of bummed that I couldn’t go along with them. It sounded like I was about to miss something fairly exciting.

  Leanne reappeared a moment later. “Well, I’m going to steal your familiar,” she told me. “That is the most beautiful cat I have ever seen. You need to start an Instagram account for her. She could be famous, like Nala, the cat who just launched her own brand of cat food.”

  I laughed. “I’m not totally sure Cleo would be into that. I figure maybe I should focus on trying to get to know her, first.”

  “She’s adorable, and I love her. She’s young, too. Can’t be much more than a kitten. I can’t believe you saved her from the ocean.”

  “Yeah, I’ve never been that cold in my life. Thank goodness for magic. Kaillie was able to take care of that, or I’m not sure either one of us would have made it.”

  “Well, at least now you know not to go swimming in the ocean in early spring,” Leanne grinned. “I wish I had a familiar. Can you really talk to her?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I thought I was going crazy at first, because she was talking to me. I thought maybe I got brain damage from the swim, or something like that. But no, it turned out there really was a cat that was talking to me.”

  “That’s so cool. Man, I wish I had magical powers. I want a familiar.”

  “Well, we can always go to an animal shelter and find you a cat,” I suggested. “After all, if I move in with you guys, maybe Cleo would like a feline companion to hang out with during the day.” There I went again, making permanent plans. This time, I felt my heart squeeze at the idea that I might have to leave here. I really did like my new family that I had discovered.

  “That’s actually a good idea,” Leanne mused. “I’ve always wanted a cat. We never had pets growing up. Dad never had a familiar, probably because he’s allergic to anything with fur. I guess the universe realized he wasn’t a prime candidate. But now that I’ve moved out, there’s nothing stopping me getting one of my own. I think I’m going to do it. Good idea, thanks!”

  “No problem,” I laughed.

  “You have to make sure Cleo is ok with it first, though,” Leanne said solemnly. “I don’t want her feeling annoyed about it. And maybe we should wait until you’ve moved in with us too, let her settle in.”

  “I’ll have a chat with her and let you know what she thinks,” I replied. I was moved by how much my cousin cared about the impact her own new pet would have on Cleo, but also by the way Leanne spoke about me moving in with them so matter-of-factly, like it was a completely normal and acceptable thing that she had no problem with.

  I really hoped Aunt Lucy’s conversation with Chief Jones was going to have a good outcome for me.

  I got my answer about thirty minutes later, when Lucy and the Floozies came right back into the coffee shop, with my aunt at the head of the pack like she always was.

  “So? How did it go?” I asked.

  “Well, it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for,” Aunt Lucy said with a grimace. “I showed Chief Ron the letter, and he told me it proved absolutely nothing. He didn’t even want a copy of it. I accused him of being an incompetent drunk, and he threatened to arrest me for breaking and entering in Don’s shop.”

  I groaned. “Great. That means he must have known about the letter. How else would he have known where it came from?”

  “Exactly. So he’s willfully ignoring actual evidence. So, Dorothy is going to give Joe the picture, and hopefully some of the real cops in this
town will take care of this investigation.”

  My heart sunk. “This sucks. I’m never going to be able to clear my name.”

  “Never say never,” Aunt Lucy said. “And don’t worry. I have a plan on how I’m going to get back at Ron. He’s going to regret the day he ever decided he was going to frame my niece for murder. Come on, ladies. We have some more investigating to do!”

  For the second time that day, Lucy and the Floozies filed out of the coffee shop, out to create more havoc and trouble. I could only hope that this time, more came out of it.

  “Ron is an idiot,” Leanne muttered as they left. “I can’t believe they still let him have a job here.”

  “I just wish he thought the killer was anyone except me. I wish the whole town thought it was someone else.”

  “We’ll figure it out,” Leanne said. “I mean, we have a limited list of suspects. There’s no way someone managed to slip Leonard the poison before he came to the coffee shop; it was too quick-acting. So it had to be one of the people who saw him after he came in here. That really limits things, and makes it much easier for us to figure out.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” I said.

  “But you never know. Kaillie and I will come over to Aunt Debbie’s for dinner again tonight. We’ll figure it all out from there, ok? Maybe we should start over, look at everything from the very beginning. You never know what we may have missed.”

  “Sure,” I replied. “That sounds good.”

  Maybe it was a good idea. After all, starting over from scratch and looking at the whole murder investigation all over again might trigger something in my memories.

  After we closed up for the afternoon, I went and got Cleo from her spot on top of the oven. It was still just a little bit warm, and I was kind of jealous that having a nap on it was how she’d spent her last few hours.

  “Come on, little cat, time to go home,” I told her, and Cleo meowed unhappily at me as I picked her up.

  “I was comfortable there!”

  “Yeah, well, the residual heat would eventually go away and I’m heading home, so unless you want to spend the night here, I suggest you come along.”

  “Fine, fine,” Cleo muttered, her eyes looking around the room carefully. She really was absolutely stunning. Naturally, I thought all cats were adorable, and Cleo was no exception. But she was also a truly beautiful cat. Cleopawtra was the perfect name for her; she definitely reminded me of the Egyptian queen.

  I said goodbye to Kaillie and Leanne, telling them I would see them at dinner.

  “Do you need a ride back?” Debbie asked, and I shook my head.

  “No, thanks. I’m just going to walk around a bit, I think. Try and think things over.”

  “Alright,” Aunt Debbie said. “Don’t listen to what people around town are saying, ok? The killer is going to be found. Your name will be cleared.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered. “I hope so.” I only wished I shared my aunt’s confidence.

  Chapter 25

  With that I left the coffee shop, and Cleo and I began walking down the street.

  I hated that I wasn’t sure if the stares I was getting were from people who thought I was a murderer, or from people who though it was crazy to walk a cat down Main Street.

  “Wow, she’s so well trained,” one woman commented. “You don’t even need a leash for her.”

  “Please, I would never stoop so low as to wear a leash,” Cleo said haughtily. I had to pretend not to hear her; I didn’t want to be not only the woman who had murdered Leonard Steele but also the crazy woman who thought her cat spoke to her.

  Eventually we reached the end of Main Street.

  “I figure you’ve had enough of the beach for one day? I know I have,” I said to Cleo, who agreed.

  “Yeah. I still can’t believe those stupid fish got away from me.”

  “Alright. Well, let’s head back home. It’s about a twenty minute walk. Then I’ll have to figure out what to get you for dinner.”

  “I’m a big fan of fresh salmon.”

  “I bet you are, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get to eat it every day,” I said with a smile.

  As I walked back toward Aunt Debbie’s house, I couldn’t help but think about what Leanne had said. We should start thinking about the case all over, in case we missed something. But, what if we had gotten the entire assumption wrong in the first place?

  After all, the best suspect was Roman. He had all the reason in the world to murder his brother, and didn’t seem the least bit upset that he was dead. But on the other hand, he hadn’t been in the coffee shop. So how could he have poisoned Leonard if he hadn’t had access to the coffee?

  And then it hit me.

  The poison had been in Leonard’s system. But no one had said it was in the coffee cup.

  “Hey Cleo, I think I solved the murder,” I said to my new familiar.

  “Oh, a murder, that sounds cool. Who died?”

  “A local guy. Hold on. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Well, go and tell the cops, and they’ll arrest him.”

  “That’s a problem; I don’t have any actual evidence,” I replied. I had a theory, but that was all it was.

  “How do you go and get some evidence?”

  I bit my lip. “I don’t know. I could go and see him. See if I accuse him, if he would admit to it. I could record it, and then the police chief would have no choice but to arrest him.”

  “Perfect,” Cleo said. “I can use my claws to threaten him.” She showed off her paw-knives and I laughed.

  “Well, hopefully it won’t come to that.”

  I pulled out my phone and texted Leanne. I needed to know where Roman lived. I was tempted to tell her what I was going to do. After all, she’d probably want to come along. But my fingers paused over the keys before typing it.

  I was so used to doing everything on my own that it just felt more right. More natural. Even bringing Cleo along on this trip felt a bit strange. But at least she was a cat; it was a little bit different to a person.

  Leanne texted me an address and directions a moment later.

  Why, what’s up? she texted back a moment later. I stared at the phone again, wondering if I should let her into the loop. But I eventually decided against it. I had gone my whole life without help from anyone except Dad. He was gone now, so I was going to do this myself.

  I sent back a thank you text, without answering the second part, and opened up the maps app. Roman lived on the far end of the island, it looked like it was about a fifteen minute walk toward the sea.

  “Ok, Cleo. We’re going to take a bit of a detour.” As we got closer and closer, I started to feel a bit more apprehensive about the whole idea. Once we got off Main Street and started walking down the smaller roads, everything seemed a lot more isolated, and I began to wonder if maybe I should have told Leanne where I was going after all.

  No, I wasn’t going to do that. I was going to prove that I could do things without others. I had lived my whole life that way, and I wasn’t about to change now just because I had found a new group of people that I was genetically related to. It had always been me and Dad, and now it was just me. I could do this on my own.

  Steeling myself, I spotted a half-rotted mailbox on the side of the road perched precariously on top of a pole with the house number on it. Well, most of the house number, anyway. One of the ‘5’s had disappeared, but I was fairly certain that was the right place.

  “This is how horror movies start, isn’t it?” I asked Cleo as we walked down the lane. I was surrounded by fir trees that rose so high into the sky they hid all the light from the sun; it felt closer to seven o’clock than just after three.

  “I don’t know, I’ve never seen a horror movie,” Cleo replied. “However, a queen never gives up in the face of battle.”

  “That’s a good point,” I muttered as we continued along. After walking probably a hundred yards on from the mailbox I spotted the shack which Roman and Leonard
must have shared, and it was just as tattered and worn as I had been led to believe. Honestly, it was a miracle the place was still standing. The timber boards that made up the walls were old and leaning precariously to the right. The tin roof seemed to have shifted over the years and there was a gaping hole in one side; it had to be hellish whenever there was a storm.

  The yard was littered with rusty bits of old equipment. There was a small tractor missing its wheels that had been tipped onto its side, and a wheelbarrow with a flat tire that looked like it hadn’t been moved since the Civil War.

  “This looks like the kind of place where mean Rottweilers chase cats around,” Cleo muttered next to me.

  “I agree. Feel free to run if you see a dog coming after you.”

  “I’m very good at taunting them from up in the trees.”

  “Good,” I said with a small laugh. I had to admit though, I was nervous. This idea seemed worse with every passing minute. But I was here now, so what did I have to lose?

  I pulled out my phone and set up the voice recording app. Now, if Roman came out and I could get him to admit what he’d done, I’d have proof.

  Of course, if he killed me and hid my body no one would ever know either.

  I pushed that thought aside and slipped the phone back into my pocket.

  “Roman?” I called out. This seemed like the kind of place that would be booby-trapped, and I didn’t want to find myself suddenly hanging in a net fifteen feet above the ground. “Roman, it’s Eliza, the woman from the coffee shop. The new one.”

  “Go away! Private property!” came Roman’s voice a minute later from inside the house.

  “Roman, can I talk to you?” I asked. “It’s about your brother.”

  The man came out from the front door then, and I gasped as I took a step backwards. He was holding a shotgun, and he had it aimed right at me.

  “I told you, private property.”

  “Look,” I said, holding up my hands. “I don’t want any trouble. I was just hoping we could talk.”

  My mouth went dry as I looked at the gun. The more time passed, the more I thought this was a stupid idea. I had badly overstepped, and I should just leave.